legal updates from a Tennessee commercial litigation attorney

Tag Archives: Social Media

I’ve gotten a little stingy about my availability for speaking engagements. Long story short, it’s sort of a pain in the neck.

But, I agreed to teach for the Tennessee Attorneys Memo group, because they have the best marketing materials. Specifically, they lead with the line: “The 12th Annual Tennessee Law Conference boasts an all-star cast of prominent Tennessee judges and attorneys, featuring David Anthony, Gail Ashworth, and James Bryan Moseley.”

So, if you give me top billing andrefer to me as an all-star, I’m there.

I’m teaching on November 15, 2018, for the section titled “Ethical Online Marketing.” This is a “dual” credit course, meaning you’ll get ethics and general CLE credit. Plus, I am probably the most prolific blogging, tweeting, and social media’ing lawyer in town. (Edited: Since publishing this post, this assertion has been questioned by a local attorney.)

The real challenge will be keeping people in their seats and paying attention at 4pm, so I plan to super-charge this talk with lots of examples of terrible and/or unethical online marketing examples.

As you all know, I regularly speak at Continuing Legal Education seminars for lawyers on topics related to foreclosure, bankruptcy, and other creditor rights issues in the law.

Well, to my surprise, the Tennessee Bar Association has asked me to talk about family law, at its annual Family Law Forum: The Life Cycle of a Divorce, on May 24, 2017.

Now, before you prepare your expert-level questions about parenting plans and in futuro alimony, please know that I’m speaking on Social Media legal issues in family law matters, including things that lawyers must warn their clients against.

I’m an expert on that, because I’ve been law tweeting actively for eight years at @creditorlaw, and my firm has only asked me to delete two tweets. That’s basically a perfect track record.

And, just in case one of you do that thing where you ask presenters weirdly complicated questions, I’ve enlisted Phil Newman, a great lawyer who I refer all family law matters, to serve as my co-presenter.

A new trend in lawyer Continuing Legal Education are seminars advocating use of Social Media to Collect Debts. The seminars either advocate for social media as the tool of the future or caution that it is an ethical trap for debt collectors.

It’s definitely a trap for the debt collector, especially given that the FDCPA seems to apply to all communications, regardless of whether it’s a letter, e-mail, or friend request. Does a creditor have to identify themselves as a debt collector under the Act in an initial friend request? Does the friend request (i.e. an “initial communication”) have to be followed by the Act’s required debt validation warning (15 USC 1692g)?

I have no idea. My philosophy is, when in doubt about ethics, choose the safe route. Here, the safe route is avoiding affirmative contact but, if the profile is public, then by all means use whatever you can publicly find.

Just yesterday, I was trying to locate a defendant who had disappeared–all of the searches kept going back to his old house, where the residents swore he no longer lived. But, I found an online profile for him on Map My Walk, a site that allows people to track their running and walking routes. You can guess the rest: everyday, his walks started and ended at the address that I had, providing confirmation of his address (and what time he was home in the afternoon).

At one time, I saw social media as the future of debt collection, especially in the early days of social networking sites (Myspace, Friendster, early Facebook), when people didn’t think twice about privacy settings. Now, people are more savvy about online privacy. (And it’s not necessarily to dodge debt collections–it’s more likely to avoid the boss seeing your party photos.)

Even though people can post pictures of their new car or brag about their promotion at work, most people know better. But, not everybody knows better–and, if they are going to put it online where anybody can see, they can’t complain when a debt collector finds it.

My final take? It’s not the wave of the future in collections. It’s a box to check in the process, but not the solution to finding debtors or their assets.

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Disclaimer

The statements and opinions voiced here are my own and not of my law firm. This blog and any links have been prepared for general informational purposes and are neither legal advice nor a solicitation to provide legal services. This information is not intended to create a lawyer-client relationship, and any use of this blog does not constitute a lawyer-client relationship. You should seek counsel from a qualified lawyer for any legal issue before taking or delaying any action or making any decision, as some of the concepts discussed may be subject to exceptions and qualifications.